Childbirth Education

Still booming (with babies that is)

Wednesday, we reported on a respectable baby boom unfolding in The Birth Place. While baby flurries are common, nurses said, they are usually followed by a lull. No lulls have come, not since April.

“It’s just been one baby after the next,” said Kayla Golay, a registered nurse at The Birth Place.

“One mom goes home and her room is filled up with someone else.”

How busy is it? Consider these baby numbers:

-- Since Monday, 32 babies have been born. The Birth Place typically delivers 14to21 babies a week.

-- 8 babies were born Thursday, with another born overnight.

-- 4 babies were expected Friday, including a set of twins -- the second set of twins this week.

-- As of Friday morning, 96 babies have been born in July – with 6 more days to go. Compared that to July 2012 when 95 babies were born over the entire month.

-- For the last few years, WMC delivered an average of 85 to 95 babies per month. They’ve delivered 100 babies in March, 95 in April, 103 in May and 101 in June.

When Sara Keeler came Tuesday, there wasn’t yet a labor room to put her in. Staff found her another room until she had to be taken to the Operating Room because her little guy, Peter Meike Keeler, decided he didn’t want to come easy. He was born 11:08 p.m. July 23, weighing 5 pounds, 8.9 ounces, and nurses took Keeler to her fourth and final room.

“My nurse was right with me the whole time,” Keeler said. “We knew it was hectic, but you could tell everyone was focused on us.”

The staff may be hopping, but we have plenty of care for all the babies and their families. In addition to the core staff of nurses, all The Birth Place staff is on call for this baby boom, said Cheryl Graff, clinical coordinator at The Birth Place and a WMC registered nurse for 31 years. “It’s all hands on deck and we absolutely love what we are doing.”

Golay agreed. Though she is busy caring for families and their new babies, this is precisely why she wanted to work in The Birth Place.